By Juliet Speedy
Tourists at the Tasman Glacier Lake have been treated to the spectacular sight of an enormous iceberg rolling, crashing, and breaking up, right in front of them.
The biggest iceberg to ever calve from the glacier has been sitting high in the lake for nearly a year – but it has finally toppled over.
When an iceberg turns turtle it usually happens deep in the Southern Ocean, far from human eyes. So when it happens in a lake, right in front of tourists, it’s quite dramatic.
The scene unfolded as Tasman Glacier guides took two boatloads of tourists out on the usual trip to see towering ice cliffs and floating icebergs – but they got a much bigger show than that.
“It was a rainy day, so we were thinking about changing the booking,” says tourist Rachel Scott. “I’m so glad we didn’t now.”
“It was really amazing to see, it was once in a lifetime,” says Gerry Lemon of Glacier Explorers. “I’ll probably never see that again.”
The giant iceberg, dubbed ‘the taniwha’ by local guides, fell off the Tasman Glacier last year.
It was the biggest ever to break off, but nearly a year later, the taniwha decided to roll over.
“The sheer size of that iceberg and the power that came out of it, as it was splitting and rolling, was pretty unreal,” says glacier guide Julia Child.
When the iceberg was stationary only 10 percent of it was visible. But as it slowly melted beneath the water, it became top heavy, rolled over, and broke up.
“It sounded like thunder and lightening, which was the noise coming from the ice just hitting the water,” says Graeme Slatter of Tasman Valley Tours.
Tourists on board were unnerved when it first started happening.
“It began to roll which was quite frightening, but we felt safe the whole time in the boat,” says Ms Scott.
“We weren’t that close but we did feel the waves and the water that was created by the glacier.”
The Tasman Glacier in Mt Cook is the longest glacier in New Zealand, but has been retreating for years.
There is argument over what is causing it, but no argument about it being a dazzling spectacle.
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